“I know.” His jaw flexed. “You just make it really damn hard to stay away from you.”
That hit like a spell to the chest. “What?”
He cleared his throat. “To stay away from… yourmess.”
“Right,” I muttered. “My mess.”
He studied me for a long beat, eyes dark and unreadable. The distance between us felt like a live wire.
“Next time,” he said finally, “lock the door before you blow something up.”
“Next time,” I shot back, “maybe don’t look so smug when you rescue me.”
He paused at the doorway, one corner of his mouth twitching.
“Not smug,” he said. “Prepared.”
I crossed my arms. “You didn’t have toterrifythem,” I huffed.
“They were flirting with you,” he insisted, throwing out an arm in the direction that they’d just fled.
“That’s the potion’s fault,” I said with a sniff.
He looked me over, eyes catching briefly on the streak of glitter in my hair that I could see out of the corner of my eye. “Doesn’t matter. It’s still annoying. I don’t like anyone else being up here.”
I exhaled, exasperated. “You know, it would really help my ego if you’d at leastpretendto be affected.”
He bent, picking up a spilled vial, the movement slow, deliberate. “You want me to fake being in love with you, Hanna?”
My throat went dry. “N-no. Just… maybe don’t sound so immune,” I defended, hoping and praying that he didn’t figure out that I’d brewed this entire mess of a potion forhim.
He set the vial down carefully, then leaned against the counter, close enough for me to smell cedar and smoke clinging to his shirt. “Hate to break it to you, Hanna, but I don’t need magic for that.”
I blinked, confused. “For what?” I asked.
“To notice you.” His response was simple and matter-of-fact, but it stole my breath.
My pulse tripped. But before I could say anything, he turned and stalked toward the door.
“It’s not like you ever leave me alone. It would be difficult tonotnotice you. Now clean up your mess,” he said gruffly, voice low enough that it almost hid the warmth underneath. “And for the love of the Gods, stop brewing unsupervised in residential areas.”
And then he was gone—leaving me alone in a swirl of glitter and rosewater, heart pounding hard enough to shake the shelves.
The potion had worked on everyone but him.Of course it had.Because apparently,even magic knew he was immune to me.The door clicked shut behind him, leaving me in a swirl of glitter.
So much for that plan.
Chapter 13
Hanna
By the time I made my way to our rooftop the next day, the world already smelled like rain again—clean and sharp. I told myself I wasn’t coming up hereforSavla. I just needed space and quiet. Plus, the rooftop had better light for brewing.
That was mostly true. But then, I’d begun referring to it asourrooftop, hadn’t I?
The second I stepped onto the roof, Ribbon croaked his happy, gravelly greeting, and the corners of Savla’s mouth twitched—just barely, but enough to make something warm bloom in my chest.He didn’t say hello. He never did.
And it was odd, because I’d seen him with Zara and his brothers, so I knew that he could chat if he wanted to. Well notchat, butreply.
